What became “The Year of the Cake” started innocently enough. In October 2023, Sandi Pierantozzi and her husband, Neil Patterson, ordered a slice of pistachio torte from a bakery in Sicily. It was love at first bite. The couple returned to the shop each of the five days they spent in Taormina, always savoring the
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I started Bennett Compost 16 years ago with the goal of making composting easy and accessible for Philadelphians. From the moment we started, people asked, “When do you think Philly will offer composting to every household like trash and recycling?” I used to say, “Ten years at the earliest.” Sixteen years later, my answer hasn’t
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In the summer of 2023, farmers and gardeners in Philadelphia had good reason to be optimistic. The City had just published its first urban agriculture plan, called “Growing from the Root,” which offered a 10-year road map for building a thriving local food system and securing land for farmers and gardeners. And in June of
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Every Monday around 9 a.m., Kimberton Waldorf School’s Food for Thought lunch program stocks up on Seven Stars Farm maple and vanilla yogurt. Located just across the street, the biodynamic farm is among the many local food producers and growers the school uses to source ingredients for their daily lunch menu. The agricultural hub of
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Over the years, Grid has published hundreds of recipes. For this food issue, we took a trip back to the stacks to find a sumptuous selection you can incorporate into any holiday spread. Spiced Pear Bread by Marisa McClellan, Food in Jars Makes one large loaf or two small ones. 2 cups finely chopped pear
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On a warm Saturday morning in September, Mégane Simões and Sara Dufner — the volunteer managers of the Northern Liberties Community Compost Program — are tucked behind a playground at Liberty Lands, hard at work. Saturday is drop-off day, a time when neighbors bring buckets and bags of food scraps, which, over weeks and months,
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At the Pulaski Zeralda Community Garden in Germantown, the air is thick with the scent of green onions and okra. These vegetables grow from some of the 38 plots, including one dedicated to a local women’s center. This season alone, the garden yielded blackberries, strawberries, tomatoes, okra, peppers, corn and collards. The garden participates in
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As a kid, Wyatt Piazza connected with the natural world by helping his dad out in the family vegetable garden. He holds dear the memories of foraging with him in the woods of Vermont during summer vacations. In his work as a chef today, Piazza creates vegetable-forward recipes for Kiddo, the restaurant he and his
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Growing up in Philadelphia, Marcus Greene Sr. says his family struggled to buy groceries. Even with food stamps and other government assistance, it still wasn’t enough. “I specifically remember as a youth, standing in line on Lehigh Avenue, waiting with the rest of the community to get our food donations,” says Greene, now vice convener
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At Manayunk’s Crust Vegan Bakery this past May, PB&J scone season was giving way to jasmine peach scone season. Midseason, the dough invariably left over when a batch of scones is rolled and cut is incorporated into the next batch. “But at the end of the season, there’s no next batch,” Crust owner Meagan Benz
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